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DeSoto schools earn A state ranking under new standards

DeSoto County schools fared well under Mississippi's revamped academic ranking system, earning an A districtwide, according to rankings released Thursday.

The district, Mississippi's largest, was one of 14 statewide to get the top grade. DeSoto schools were ninth among 143 eligible districts on a 1,000-point scale to measure academic performance.

"This is definitely a testament to the hard work of our teachers, our students and our administrators," Superintendent Cory Uselton said. "...Even though we are pleased with these results, we are already using the data from last year's testing to tailor instruction based on the needs of the students at each school."

“This is definitely a testament to the hard work of our teachers, our students and our administrators.”

Cory Uselton, DeSoto County Schools superintendent

Among other North Mississippi districts, Senatobia received a B, and Marshall, Tate and Tunica districts were all C districts.

Like other Mississippi districts, DeSoto schools the past few years had depended on a waiver to maintain the top ranking as the state Department of Education transitioned to new standards that were not fully in sync with curricula.

This year, however, districts were fully in line for the 2015-16 rankings released Thursday. In addition to the districtwide A, 16 DeSoto schools received an A. Thirteen schools got a B, eight a C and one, Southaven Elementary, a D. No school got a failing grade.

Lewisburg was ranked the state's top high school. In fact, five of the top nine high schools on the point scale in the state are DeSoto schools: Lewisburg,1; DeSoto Central, 2; Hernando, 6; Center Hill, 8; and Olive Branch, 9. Lewisburg and DeSoto Central are first and second, respectively, among middle schools statewide.

District officials said work has begun already at the C- and D-ranked schools to improve performance.

"The state on average is a C in terms of academic achievement, and I think that's a good starting point," state Superintendent Carey Wright said, noting that higher testing standards are meant to measure Mississippi students against a national yardstick.

At the end of 2014-15, 19 districts had As, 43 had Bs, and none were rated as failing. Last year, even though the state adopted another new test called the Mississippi Assessment Program, no waivers were given. Officials had warned that overall scores would fall, and this year, 14 districts got As, while 39 got Bs and 20 got Fs. The grade distribution was similar among Mississippi's nearly 1,000 individual schools.

High stakes accompany the results. Schools and districts rated as failing could be taken over by Mississippi's new achievement school district if they get a second-straight F in the current school year. With the Jackson district's F rating, the district could have to decide whether to take over the district in its first year, as the new district begins work. There are about 63,000 students in F-rated districts. Higher-rated districts that have individual F-rated schools could also see those schools taken over.